Heart's Desire
by Mystical-Grace
Summary: Takes place during the Dream Saga story in the 8th volume of the manga. Why did Shinobu, the one who has perfect recollection, not tell Mitsuru what dream was brought out by the Dream cat? Here is a small look into what may have been Shinobu's dream.


The Heart's Desire

The Heart's Desire

By: Mystical-Grace

Disclaimer: I don't own Koko wa Greenwood, so please don't sue me.

A/N: This was inspired by the dream saga in the manga. More specifically, it was inspired by the fact that out of all the Greenwood residents, Shinobu "couldn't remember" the dream that had been brought to the surface thanks to the dream cat. So yes, this is going to have HUGE spoilers for the manga.

Shinobu: raises an eyebrow You are going to attempt to do this whole story from my perspective?

Mystical: rolls eyes Yes, mighty tyrant godling of Ryoukuto Academy. We all know that you do have some emotion under that cool mask of yours.

Kazuya: We do?

Shun: Suka-chan...Shakes his head

Mystical: laughs Don't worry, its not like I'm going to make you Extremeangst!Shinobu... or Extremehappy!Shinobu.

Everyone: … shudders at the mental image of both

Shinobu: ... But I'm still gonna feel it.

Mystical: grins innocently You're calling on karma, you sadistic thing.

People have the strangest desires. Most of the boys at Greenwood (and most of Ryoukutou, probably) would say that they want to get a girlfriend, get out on the town, get money, and get laid. These things aren't so strange, but they are surface desires. People use them to hide what they truly desire deep down inside.

Take my roommate, for instance; underneath Mitsuru's joking exterior is a lonely person abandoned from birth. He wants to be a part of the family that took him in, though he can't help but feel as if he cheated them of their own life. So he hides it under the jokes and the fights, the women that surround the both of us, and even within our own strange friendship.

As for me... I have what I want. I never realized what it was until it punched me in the face and knocked me out in the middle of the school library. For the moment, I have my match, my equal, my partner... my only friend. Even when we go our separate ways and forget each other—though who could honestly forget him? — I will still have this cherished part of my life to hold on to. My precious friend.

Today started off very well. I woke at dawn and worked on some files that had come in to me about Nee-san's doings (I made sure to keep her watched after she tried to sabotage the play that Mitsuru and I worked so hard on) and what was going on with Nii-san. I closed my eyes, thinking of my brother. He had risked the wrath of otou-san and left the family to pursue his own dreams. I probably should be angry with him, but I'm not. Without even meaning to, I had managed to swipe away his chance of inheriting otou-san's business when I was just a child, which gave him reason enough to leave. I do wish, however, he could have spared Noriko-chan the heartache, thus causing HER to leave me to deal with the chains of our family until they either make up or she gets tired of this game. But I digress.

As I worked with the desk lamp on, light filtered through the window of our room. I heard the soft groan coming from the top bunk where Mitsuru was just beginning to wake up. Quietly, I placed the files back among my things as I listened to the bed creak and the soft thud of his feet against the hardwood floor. Just as I finished putting the files in their place, warm, muscular arms wrapped around my shoulders and warm breath grazed my ear.

"What are you doing up so early in the morning?" he muttered sleepily, just as he has done ever since we became closer after our fight our first year together.

"Finding out will cost you," I warned, as I always did when he asked.

"How much?"

"More than you want to give."

"Greedy bastard."

I shrugged, hiding my smile from him. Truly, my price would be too much for him, which is why I let him believe that it was money that I wanted from him. He loosened his arms from around me and I glanced at the clock.

"We'd best get dressed; It's almost time for breakfast." Indeed, we could hear Hasukawa (as well as the rest of the dorm) getting ready for the day through the thin walls. It took us ten minutes to get dressed, the two of us working around each other in perfect synchronization. We listened as Shun encouraged Hasukawa to get up, he could do it, don't let the track coach get to him.

Truly, I feel somewhat sorry for Hasukawa. For a person with such poor health, he has excellent track records. Unfortunately for him, this meant that the track coach, who some of the students (including Hasukawa-sensei) have referred to as "Shinigami-sensei," also noticed (Apparently there is some bad blood between the coach and Hasukawa-sensei, and now he's taking it out on the younger of the two.). Mitsuru and I grinned at each other, both of us mutually agreeing to lay off picking on the poor boy until he got his strength built up.

As we headed to breakfast, we heard some people talk about the strange, or even nostalgic, dreams that they had. One boy had dreamt of his family and was now worried about them. Another had dreamt that Shun was a girl (which really wasn't that hard to believe, all things considered). I glanced at my roommate thoughtfully, catching him giving me the same look. Only a few days ago Fred had spoken of getting homesick because he had dreamed of his family, and we contributed it to the fall season. Then the dorm mother had set off on a tirade that was rather unlike her about the importance of family. Then we heard recently that the zealous occult members had a vision of the Christian savior standing at the foot of their bed. As we settled to breakfast with Shun and Hasukawa, the strange dreams were the main topic of discussion. Everything that was said reminded me of a tale that had been told to me when I was a child.

Nothing eventful happened at school, and all the dorm mates were puzzled by the sudden dreams. Tomomichi pointed out that whatever was happening was only happening in the dorm, and even the dorm mother had gotten it. Then the idiot suggested that something might be wrong with the food (as if he can talk). The suggestion finally spurred my memory of the child's tale, supporting my slightly amusing theory.

"Maybe," I mused, "it's Nightmare."

Everyone looked at me in confusion, but it was Shun who made the inquiry. "Nightmare?"

"The dream fairy," I answered. "I don't remember the details, but she's a fairy that controls people's dreams." I glanced around to see blank looks on everyone's faces. "You know," I said slowly, hiding my exasperation, "like the dream eaters in folk tales." I got up to get rid of my tray, satisfied with the dumbstruck look on their faces. "Come on, unless you WANT to meet the ghosts of the dorm." I watched in amusement as everyone hurried through their dinner and hurried to their rooms. As Mitsuru and I made our way to our room, we talked some more on the subject.

"Do you really think that this is the work of a dream fairy?" Mitsuru asked me curiously.

"Do you have any better idea? What else would cause people to act out of character?"

"Good point. After all, this IS Greenwood."

"Exactly."

When we reached our room, we both changed and decided to go straight to bed. It had been a long day, and neither of us had been hit by the dreams as of yet. I closed my eyes, bidding Mitsuru goodnight and receiving tidings in kind. Then, a wicked thought came to me.

"Don't let the dream fairy bite, Mitsuru."

I swear I could feel the idiot's grin without even seeing it.

"Right back at you."

And now I know for a fact that his grin is damn near contagious; I'm sure I have a grin that nearly matches his as I drift off to sleep.

Sunlight danced across my eyelids. A comfortable weight was lying across my bare chest. These were the first things I noticed as I slowly opened my eyes, taking in the stark ceiling above me, and then glancing around at the warm surroundings that are my home. I shifted gently, moving the arm draped across me before climbing out of bed and going about my usual morning routine. At least, that was my intention. The warm, muscular arm was what made me freeze. None of the girls I had dated were ever muscular, having been raised as proper young women. I glanced down, following the arm back to its owner… and very nearly died of shock. There, bare-shouldered, sound asleep and only a mere breath away, was none other than Ikeda Mitsuru himself. I stared, my mind working furiously to work out how I went from being fully clothed and alone in a single bed to being naked and sharing a king size (I didn't question the size; It was obvious. Mitsuru and I can get _very_ creative with space) with my best friend (who seemed to be in the same state of dress as me), and in a room that I had never seen before.

I softly got out of bed, quiet as a cat, and looked around. Anything to put some distance between me and him… and that dratted bed that was giving me ideas. I looked through what I assumed was the dresser, and settled for a pair of sweatpants and a loose T-shirt that obviously belonged to Mitsuru. I sat down at the desk and picked up some files, determined to distract myself. As I glanced through the files, I felt those warm arms, heard that familiar voice breathe in my ear. My heart stuttered.

"Shinobu…" Mitsuru sighed sleepily; "It's way too early for this. Today's a holiday, ne? Holidays are for sleeping in."

I smiled slightly, despite my anxiousness; No matter how much time has gone by, he will never change (where on earth did _that_ come from?). "These are important things that need my immediate attention. Sleeping in will only hinder that."

"That's what you said last night," he said teasingly. "I managed to change your mind then, too."

My heart raced at the implications of his words. I made sure to fix my face with a bored expression as I regretfully ignored him.

He sighed, seeing I wasn't taking the bait. "Won't you at least tell me what it is?"

"How much are you willing to pay?" I replied, thankful to get back on familiar ground as opposed to the strangeness that had been my morning.

Mitsuru laughed and spun my chair around so I faced him, and I felt my eyes widen slightly; he was still shirtless, with only a bed sheet. I faintly noticed that his features spoke of a maturity that came with experience. But what truly astounded me was how close his face had come to mine; our mouths were only a few tantalizing centimeters apart, our noses brushing against each other distractingly so.

"Knowing what those boring documents contain? Nada. Getting you to come back to bed for once?" With that, his eyes looked deep into mine, and I saw a tender fondness there that made my heart (which I had only _just_ gotten under control) race once more. "Anything." He leaned in, closing that final distance and placed a sweet, soft kiss on my mouth.

But I couldn't feel it; not the warmth of his lips upon mine, nor the desire that should have followed. My heart, which had just recently been beating out of control, calmed to a drowsy state that felt nothing like contentment. I couldn't feel anything, not even the simplest thing as the smell of morning breath that I'm certain both of us have. My eyes narrowed; surely this wasn't real. As if to prove my theory, I heard a cat meow, and then a tearing sound. I watched as the scenery of my dream begins to be torn to pieces, and felt like my heart was being torn alongside it. I forced myself into awareness, and felt something try to wiggle away from me. I gripped onto whatever it was, and became completely awake when it dared to scratch the back of my hand, and to Mitsuru shouting about how impossible it was.

I got out of bed and took a cursory glance around the room; room 211, my home for two years, now going on three. Clean, tidy, with little room and a set of bunk beds that could not be dismantled. And there, on the top bed that he had called when the two of us roomed together, was the heart of my dreams… literally. I looked around once more, trying to find whatever it was I had grabbed, but it was long gone. I turned back to Mitsuru, only to find him still in bed in shadows muttering in a voice that not even I could hear. I called to him softly, wanting to make sure that he truly was awake. He jumped, turning to meet my eyes as startled deer turns to see headlights while it crosses the road. What I saw in those eyes made the heart he had given to me in our first year twinge; his eyes were fevered, saddened, and filled with longing. If I had seen those eyes two years ago, or on anyone else, I would not have bothered; but this was _Mitsuru_. The one who liked me despite knowing what I am capable of doing. The only one who has always been able to accept me, despite my strange family and everything that has happened to him simply because he knows me. My eyes hardened as I clenched my injured hand; he had dreamed about something to do with his family. Whatever it was, this was going to end. Soon.

"You too, Shinobu?" He asked, and I remembered my own dream, as well as the feeling that I had…

"I almost got it." I said. It was true; I had almost gotten whatever it was that had invaded my mind and had caused him to make such a face.

Mitsuru's eyes grew confused. "Got what?"

"Look." I showed him my hand. "As I was waking up, I felt like something was wriggling away, so I reached out and grabbed it… and then this. It's got some nerve," I muttered the last part, not even bothering to go into detail of the dream that I had.

Mitsuru took my hand in his and examined the scratch. Something in my stomach fluttered; I ignored it.

"Shinobu?" he said, looking me directly in the eyes (he's the only one who can do it; though there are times where even he is scared of me). "You should put your talent to good use." He actually managed to say that with a straight face.

"Yeah, I guess I should," I agreed. "How about you operate the temple and I'll be the medium in the back room?" I prayed that he wouldn't notice the hope that tinged my voice.

We stood there silent for a full minute before Mitsuru burst into laughter, with me chuckling with him as he pulled out our small first aid kit. It was a minor scratch, but it was bleeding. As he treated my hand, we discussed what had transpired. When my hand was taken care of, Mitsuru stood up and stretched.

"Okay. I'm gonna make a phone call. There's a place I know that I can get charms for cheap."

"Ah. So we're going to do an exorcism? How fun." If I was as cold as people (rightfully so) think of me, I would have called him on his attempt to avoid his family. Normally, I would, too. However, in light of the situation, I believed it was unnecessary.

"Yep. Only problem is, the thing…"

"Cat."

"… Cat, seems to invade people's dreams, so with a hundred guys…"

"That leaves Shun or Hasukawa," I interrupted. I watched as the information dawned on him. It is amusing; Mitsuru is definitely not a morning person. "Go make your phone call."

"Right."

We told Hasukawa and Shun about most of what we discovered. Hasukawa looked amusingly long-suffering. Shun looked curious.

"It hasn't done any real damage, but I don' like it." Mitsuru finished.

"I can't believe it," Shun said, and I nearly rolled my eyes. After countless encounters with ghosts and half the other strange things that go on around here, he can't believe this? "Can that really happen?"  
"Something is definitely meddling with our dreams," I said sternly, taking in our kouhai's shocked expressions. I knew firsthand, after all. "When I grabbed it, I felt the hind leg of a small animal.

"I felt it too." Mitsuru confirmed. "As if something was leaving my mind. It was… a cat."

I looked at my watch. It was a late Friday night, and we had completed most of our work. "Why don't we all just sleep on it?"

Hasukawa grimaced. "Fun. First a psychotic teacher is after me, now this. Can't this be a normal school?"

Saturday was fairly monotonous. I got up and went through my morning routine, the only thing missing being the banter Mitsuru and I usually had. I decided to leave it, seeing how I still thought about my own dream, and how I knew for a fact Mitsuru was more than a little distressed over his own.

We dressed, ate breakfast, and went through all our classes without a hitch. When we finally returned to the dorms, we heard the dorm manager's voice over the intercom saying that Mitsuru had a call. Mitsuru fairly ran to the phones. He came back, looking flushed and happy.

"That was Sho. He got the charms that I was talking about."  
That shocked me. He had actually gone through his own family connections.

"I didn't use ours since we don't really deal with exorcisms." Amazing. I am constantly astounded at how easily he reads me. "The place I told you about deals with these things all the time."

"Do you really think this will work, Mitsuru?"

"Hey, with you to back me up, it probably won't matter that I'm not an actual priest."

Ah. There it was. He never was confident in his skills as a monk, seeing as he was adopted. Though it almost made me smile when he showed that much faith in my ability, it irritates me that he willingly throws away that family that I know he loves so dear.

No matter. "So, we stay up tonight, huh?"

"Yep."

Sure enough, close to midnight, we heard a soft pitter patter along the dorm, ending at Hasukawa's room. Mitsuru sighed and cleaned up the cards that we had played to pass the time (it was always entertaining, since neither of us actually finish a game. We both outmaneuver each other too well, so neither gains any ground.).

He smirked mischievously at me as he collected the fuda. "How much you wanna bet it's gonna be Hasukawa?"

"You know I don't bet when I'm sure to lose."

"Oh? Like how you bet on your team last year during the athletic festival and my team ended up winning?"  
"I didn't take Hasukawa seriously; It was a mistake on my part."

"But—"

"Mitsuru!" There it was. That dratted thing that caused Mitsuru pain, that tried to destroy my own dream. There it was, standing on Hasukawa's head.

"Huh?"

Damn. Guess he couldn't see it.

"It's on top of Hasukawa's head." And from the looks of it, it's trying to suck something out of him. Mitsuru threw the fuda, furiously yelling at it. I watched as the cat disappeared, leaving an empty space and a fuda fluttering down.

"Hah. How d'ya like the taste of the charm from the Maison Magic in Harujuku?"

Was he seriously saying that with a straight face? "I never thought it would work."  
He frowned at me. "Thanks for the vote of confidence, pal."  
"Sempai?" Hasukawa's sleepy voice caught our attention, and we noticed that Shun was waking as well. "What are you doing here?"  
"Well, you were the last ones who hadn't had any weird dreams, so we thought it'd probably appear here tonight."  
We proceeded to question Hasukawa about what type of dream he'd had. When he described Nightmare as a cute little girl, Mitsuru, Shun and I glanced at each other. There was no way we could let this go.

"Are you sure it wasn't just a dream?" Shun was always the nicer one out of all of us.

"Sounds like you're into younger chicks." Mitsuru didn't have any room to talk; his girl problems are just as bad as Hasukawa's.

"Maybe that's your type." Of course, I definitely didn't help matters.

"THAT'S NOT IT!!"

Ah, good. He'd gotten his energy back. Things were definitely back to normal.

"So, the feelings at the bottom of everyone's heart came out as dreams."

"That's why there were both good and bad dreams, depending on the person."

It was Sunday afternoon, and Mitsuru and I were lounging by the window, talking about this strange event that had passed. Mitsuru mentioned that the guy who had gotten possessed was the only one who hadn't been hit. I replied that it was an annoyance.

"Well, what did you dream?" He asked with a smile.

_That_ caught me off guard. How did…? Oh. I had caught the dream cat. Of course I would have dreamed something.

"Was it a good dream?"

Oh indeed it was. After all it was my…

I opened my mouth to say something, anything, but I could not lie. Not to him. Nor could I shake the fragmented memory of that shredded dream of my deepest wish. So I settled for the next best thing.

"Damn. I don't remember."

I think I surprised Mitsuru on that one. After all, he did tell me what his dream had been. I think he doesn't believe me, but that's all right. That dream that I had was only a deeper hint of my current contentment. It proved to me that my deepest wish is to keep Mitsuru with me for a very long time, and now I am determined to see it through.

When the time comes, I'll ask him if he would move in with me when we leave for college. It is nowhere near the intimacy that my dream held, but perhaps time will be kind. Fate was generous in putting Mitsuru in my path; perhaps Fate will allow me to keep my heart's desire.

Fini

Mystical: Wow. I actually finished. This would be my first completed fanfic in years. I hope the fans enjoy. Now, I would like to point out that most of the dialogue in this was directly taken from the eighth volume of the English copy of Here is Greenwood. The reason? So all you readers would know what was going on. If you flame me for spoiling something, I point out again that I warned you at the very beginning that there were spoilers. I couldn't write this fic without putting a lot of the actual writing in here. I hope you all enjoyed. If I made any errors, please let me know. Read and Review, Please!!


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